Cooling System Problem?

[neophyteguy]

On my series 2a (1971), I have taken the radiator out and had it tested/repaired as well as replaced the water pump. I really only did these as they were easy to get to at the time. Having only driven the vehicle 50Kms (on a hot Melbourne day!), I didn't had any problems with the cooling system.

I have removed the petcock? off the side of the engine in an attempt to flush the system a bit before finalising the radiator install. However, I am not getting ANY fluid out of this hole in the block. Aren't I supposed to be?

I REALLY dont have time to be replacing the welsh plugs at the moment, so this isnt an option for now. I am assuming the best way would be to remove the plugs and scrape out as much crud as I can.

Is there any other way of getting this to work? I have stuck a small piece of wire in and did pull it back out with some small amounts of wet crud on it, but I dont really have any idea how bad this is.

Am I going to overheat my engine if I cant get fluid/coolant out of this plug?

As always, any help is greatly appreciated! - Ronnie

[akelly]

Hi Ronnie - If I read your post right you still have the radiator out, and if you have the radiator out there wont be any coolant left in the block. Have I missed something?

cheers,

Adam

[neophyteguy]

Adam,
At this point I have already reinstalled the radiator, etc. I had tried flushing the system by putting the hose in the top radiator hose after having removed the thermostat. At that time I noticed I wasn't getting any flow from the petcock hole. However, I wrongly assumed the system needed to pressurize in order to get flow through the cooling jacket area.

My vehicle has a winch on it as well which just makes all this a bit harder.......I really dont like my chances of getting the welsh plugs out with the motor in-situ at this point.

Will some type of cleaner help? Cheers for any help someone can offer-Ronnie

[Blknight.aus]

remove all the hoses.
open the petcock
blow compressed air into it
fit a hose to it and try to fill it with water
blow more compressed air into it

once youve got some flow happening put the old hoses back on and fill the system with tectalloy coolant flush (1 500ml bottle + tap water is enough) drive it round for a couple of hours then dump the coolant, flush the individual parts again and you should have it sorted.

[chazza]

Give the drain cock hole a thorough stabbing with a slim screwdriver to shift the muck. I once had to drill through the rust with an electric drill to clear it :eek:

Cheers Charlie

[foz.in.oz]

You can remove the drain cock completely and try to back flush through the hole in the block. You can also give the stop cock a proper check by looking through it.

Depending on what type of cock it is will depend on whether there should be a hole in the centre. Some have a mushroom head on the end of a threaded bolt which even when open doesn't give a central hole that you can poke through.

[neophyteguy]

Firstly, thanks for everyone's help!

I was able to get the water moving throughout the system by using pretty much everybody's suggestions. I did have to poke a piece of wire through the hole the pet cock came out of. I then used a bendable pipe cleaner (with spiralled bristles) which allowed me to reach about 6-7 inches on each side of the hole. I then flushed with water first, then some compressed air and then more water.

Once I got the water flowing out as fast as it was going in (via the garden hose), I used the recommended coolant flush as per the instructions on the bottle. Once the vehicle had run for about 20 minutes, I flushed the system with water.

I then flushed the system again!

I am quite sure the system is reasonably clean at this point. Thanks again!

Just a couple of more questions:
- I was only able to put in about 6 litres of coolant. Is this because I forgot to take off the bottom hose the last time I flushed the system?

- Should the coolant ever come out through the radiator cap? I assumed the overflow should go into the bottle and when this is full it then goes out the outlet tube on the bottle........

Cheers,
Ronnie

[ezyrama]

On my series 2a (1971), I have taken the radiator out and had it tested/repaired as well as replaced the water pump. I really only did these as they were easy to get to at the time. Having only driven the vehicle 50Kms (on a hot Melbourne day!), I didn't had any problems with the cooling system.

I have removed the petcock? off the side of the engine in an attempt to flush the system a bit before finalising the radiator install. However, I am not getting ANY fluid out of this hole in the block. Aren't I supposed to be?

I REALLY dont have time to be replacing the welsh plugs at the moment, so this isnt an option for now. I am assuming the best way would be to remove the plugs and scrape out as much crud as I can.

Is there any other way of getting this to work? I have stuck a small piece of wire in and did pull it back out with some small amounts of wet crud on it, but I dont really have any idea how bad this is.

Am I going to overheat my engine if I cant get fluid/coolant out of this plug?

As always, any help is greatly appreciated! - Ronnie

Hi Ronnie
An old diesel mechanic told me the best thing to flush out a block was
Phenyl, you can buy it from the hardware in a 1 ltr bottle like metho or kero and you put a cup or 2 in the radiator, run it for an hour or so,flush it and do it again. I did it on an old mini I had and you wouldn't believe the crud that came out of the block.After you do it a couple of times(leave the 3rd lot in for a week) you can refill the radiator and leave half a cup in permanently, it leaves the water crystal clear.

Cheers Ian

[mwpalmer]

can u please tell me if the following will work on a 89 rangerover v8 3.5 efi thank u------------An old diesel mechanic told me the best thing to flush out a block was
Phenyl, you can buy it from the hardware in a 1 ltr bottle like metho or kero and you put a cup or 2 in the radiator, run it for an hour or so,flush it and do it again. I did it on an old mini I had and you wouldn't believe the crud that came out of the block.After you do it a couple of times(leave the 3rd lot in for a week) you can refill the radiator and leave half a cup in permanently, it leaves the water crystal clear.

[JDNSW]

I would be very wary of leaving phenyl in an aluminium block (or heads for that matter - and definitely NOT in an aluminium radiator). Series 2a has no aluminium in the cooling system from memory.

John

[foz.in.oz]

Only aluminium in all the threaded core plugs :eek:

That might explain why my 2a doesn't have any core plugs left. Previous onwer installed a tree branch into one to stop the leak ;):mad:

[JDNSW]

Only aluminium in all the threaded core plugs :eek:

That might explain why my 2a doesn't have any core plugs left. Previous onwer installed a tree branch into one to stop the leak ;):mad:

Yes, I forgot about them. They can be considered a consumable though, not like a V8 block - or a TD5 head etc. But you don't need to add phenyl to corrode the cooling system - for example, I heard a discussion today about Dubbo's water - it was suggested that a small quantity of salt added to your fish tank helps the fish - local pet shop advised no need if you fill it from the local water supply; there is enough salt in it already.

John